Sapient Capital LLC Lowers Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Sapient Capital LLC lessened its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 25.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 96,908 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 32,507 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $15,536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,603,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $1,415,364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Capital One Financial set a $421.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Argus set a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.48.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $331.83 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $270.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 271.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $368.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $308.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $222.47.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.